The Commands of Christ - Matthew 5:29-30

"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell." -Matthew 5:29-30


Let us first be clear on this command: Jesus is not advocating or commanding self-mutilation as a requirement to avoiding hell.

Who is this command to?


Spoken to the multitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

What does this command require? What truths do we learn through this command?


At first glance, as noted above, it would seem that Jesus is teaching self-mutilation in order to avoid being cast into hell. The principle requirement, however, is to rid yourself of all things that might cause you to sin--no matter how important. Avoiding sin is important and ridding yourself of the things that cause you to sin is part of that process.

A person's eyes and hands are incredibly valuable. Without eyes and hands, we would find it very difficult to function in this world. Not many people would be willing to gauge out an eye or cut off a hand, even to avoid hell, but Jesus teaches that avoiding hell is much more important than these things.

I find it interesting that Jesus does not mention heaven in these two verses. Jesus could have said, "if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast if from you; for it is better that one of your members perish and the rest of you get into heaven, than for your whole body to be cast into hell." I believe that if He did say this, there would be a host of people that would pluck out their eyes and cut off their right hands in order to gain access to heaven. But we know that there is nothing man can do to gain access into heaven except trusting Christ's finished work on the cross as the satisfactory payment for our sin.

What are the consequences for disobeying this command?


Being cast into hell, living with wrong priorities, a lifestyle of sin,